Maryland State Athletic Commission

Back in 1988, Maryland was on this whole big anti-blood kick as far
as sports went, and they've stubbornly refused to classify professional
wrestling as a non-sport. To this day, a licensed doctor is still
required to be at ringside at wrestling events in the state of Maryland.

So, as we get in the WAY BACK MACHINE to NWA (later WCW) Great American Bash '88,
we find ourselves with a main event of Ric Flair (the champion) vs. Lex
Luger for the NWA World Title. This is after Luger had chased
around Flair months and months and MONTHS, so the fans were raring to see
a title change here.

Anyway, at the twenty minute mark of the match, Flair and JJ Dillon
rammed Luger a bunch of times into one of the ringposts until Luger started
bleeding (in a really horrible bladejob that produced about two drops
of blood). Luger recovered and locked his finishing move, the Torture
Rack, on Flair...when the bogus "Maryland State Athletic Commission" stopped
the match due to excessive blood loss and awarded the title to Flair.

To say that the fans were unhappy is the understate of the century,
as this was possibly the cheapest and dumbest way to end a match EVER.
Except for possibly the Undertaker being locked in a casket after 10
men interfered, floating up to "heaven," and reading a soliloquy on the
way up, but that's another story for another day, kids.